


Fairies are Creepy

by WritLarge



Series: JackRabbit Easter 2015 [2]
Category: Coraline (2009), Coraline - Neil Gaiman, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-07
Updated: 2015-04-07
Packaged: 2018-03-21 16:13:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3698714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritLarge/pseuds/WritLarge
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Coraline Jones discovers that the tooth fairy has been collecting her baby teeth she is justifiably freaked out. So she decides to trap it.</p><p>or</p><p>How Coraline Jones, a twelve year old experienced in the supernatural, decides to help Jack Frost find out if the Easter Bunny likes him back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fairies are Creepy

**Author's Note:**

> Started with an idea to do with hunting and then kind of veered off into another direction.

When Coraline had realized that a creepy demented spirit fairy stole your baby teeth, she was more than a little freaked out. You would be too if you’d gone through what she had. 

The only thing that made it less worrying was that she only had one tooth left to lose – her upper left second molar. The disappearance of her upper right second molar had been what tipped her off. Her mom and dad had long since dropped any pretense of the Tooth Fairy or Santa or any stories made up for little kids. Now Coraline was wondering what the real deal was because clearly weird magic monster things existed. The Beldam had convinced her of that.

Now she just had to figure out how to handle the Tooth Fairy. The books she found were useless. They all talked about fairies that lived in forests or something and liked stealing babies. Mostly, they were tricky. Also, they didn’t like iron. None of that helped. The Tooth Fairy was coming into her house for teeth, not babies, and her bed had a wrought iron frame. Maybe she was a different kind of fairy?

Coraline was too embarrassed to ask other kids her age, even her friends. No, instead she hung around the park when her mom was in town and talked to the little kids. It was depressing. They all loved the Tooth Fairy. Coraline thought they were all very innocent and naïve and she envied them.

In the end, she asked the Cat who, despite not being able to talk, nodded at the right places and gave her a good idea what to try. She put the plan into motion when her last molar came out and caught herself a fairy.

The Cat was unimpressed.

The Tooth Fairy was much smaller than Coraline had expected. She’d thrashed and fought for a while, but now the little shimmery thing was obviously distraught. When she began to sob, Coraline realized she’d made a horrible mistake.

Maybe not all magical creatures were as bad as the Beldam.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I thought you’d be like her,” Coraline tried to explain to the sadly chirping fairy, “but you aren’t are you?”

The little fairy wiped her tears away and looked up, cocking her head as if to say, “Who?”

Collapsing down to sit on the floor, the whole story came pouring out. Coraline never told it, not everything, because it was awful and unbelievable. The little fairy gasped and covered her mouth at the scariest parts and clapped her hands in delight at Coraline’s triumph. It made her feel a lot better, even if she still felt guilty about trapping the little thing.

“Are you really the Tooth Fairy?” she asked her.

Her tiny prisoner nodded yes and then shook her head no. Then she held her hand out and began raising her fingers one by one.

“There are more of you?” she guessed.

The fairy’s hands shot apart as wide as she could stretch them and she nodded at Coraline.

“A lot more of you? Wow. What about Santa?” Coraline began listing off all the different myths and spirits she could think of and got more nods than not. “That’s really… terrifying.”

The fairy frowned and cooed at her.

“You’d better go,” Coraline said, dismantling the trap. “I’m really sorry. I-”

The tooth fairy zipped up and buzzed against Coraline’s cheek. She chirped and twittered something before waving and flying through the window glass.

“Wow.” When Coraline turned, the Cat was sitting on the windowsill, cleaning his fur. “Guess I won’t be seeing her again.”

The Cat gave her look that clearly meant “Oh you have no idea, do you?” and strutted away. Coraline shrugged and flopped onto her bed, hoping that would be the last time she tangled with the supernatural.

***** 

“She what?” Jack hadn’t even known that humans could do that. There had only been a handful of Guardian meetings since he’d taken the oath, more than they’d had in decades apparently, and Jack had a steep learning curve. He thought he was doing pretty well. The others, Bunny especially, were helping him fill in a lot of the blanks. As far as he knew, the tooth fairies were capable of getting in and out of anywhere, Pitch’s nightmare creations the rare exception.

“Oh the girl didn’t hurt her,” Tooth reassured him, hovering in the air because she rarely sat. “Coraline has been through a lot apparently. It all turned out fine.”

“That’s a matter of opinion,” Bunny replied. “That girl isn’t going to stop believing, is she? She’s going to see everything.”

“Is that a problem?” Jack casually leaned against Bunny’s arm where it was draped across the back of the sofa. More believers were good, right?

“No,” said Tooth.

“Yes,” said Bunny.

Sandy tilted his hand back and forth in a so-so motion.

North sighed, “It can sometimes be bad if the person cannot handle knowing what is out there. They can become paranoid or afraid of life. Some lash out, attempting to hunt down what they fear, without regard to risk on either side.”

“They hurt themselves or hurt others and get themselves offed, is what happens,” Bunny said and removed his arm, leaning forward. Jack missed the warmth. He hadn’t seen Bunny much in the past couple weeks and was still reluctant to impose himself on the gruff Australian, even though he desperately wanted his company. There was something about Bunny that drew Jack in. Right now, his thoughts were on his believers. Would Jamie stop believing in him? He believed in almost everything if you asked him.

“What about the Burgess kids? I mean, I thought that after everything with Pitch, they wouldn’t forget.” Jack hoped they wouldn’t forget. He was still a little dubious that he’d be able to get that many more believers and wanted to keep the ones he had as long as possible. If they stopped believing, that meant Jack would only have a few short years with them. 

The older, more experienced Guardians exchanged looks between themselves. Uh oh. North nodded at Toothiana, who perched on the arm of his chair.

“It’s hard to know,” Tooth began carefully. “Humans can forget a lot, Jack. It’s actually very rare for someone to be a believer into adulthood, even after extraordinary experiences. Allowing themselves to forget or shift their belief into a fond memory of make-believe is normal. But Coraline has been touched by the Beldam’s magic and moved between the real world and the Beldam’s realm. That may have left her permanently marked.”

“Is that why you haven’t brought any of the kids into the Warren or up to the Workshop?” Jack asked. 

“It would not be good for them. No matter how much they might enjoy it.” The firm sureness in North’s voice was disheartening.

“But Sophie-“ he tried.

“She’ll forget, Jack.” Bunny smiled sadly. “Sophie was too young to really be affected by the short time she spent in the Warren. I made sure none of the magic lingered on her when she left.” 

Jack slumped into the cushions. Great.

“We should keep an eye on her, yes?” North asked. Tooth agreed before fluttering back into motion, mini fairies darting over to her for instructions.

“I’ll do it. Best not send any fairies and I doubt Sandy’s got the time.” Sandy shook his head fervently in agreement with Bunny. He was probably counting down to when he could leave the meeting, It was always nighttime somewhere.

“Me too,” Jack offered. 

“Yeah?” Bunny asked, looking at him curiously. Jack was going to take any time with Bunny that he could get.

“Sure. I mean, she definitely won’t see me will she?”

***** 

Coraline figured out that Jack Frost was there within five minutes of the first cold breeze that rattled her window.

“How did you know it was me?” the shocked spirit said. She rolled her eyes at him.

“I knew someone would be coming. The Cat told me. Well, sort of. So I made a list of spirits and myths. Hardly anyone else makes frost patterns on windows,” Coraline stood at her open window with her arms crossed smugly. “You’re really pale.”

“Can I come in?” he asked.

“You’re not going to make it snow in my room, are you? I have books in here.” Coraline’s heart pounded. She carefully didn’t invite him in, just in case.

“I’ll keep it outside.” Jack stepped in through the open window easily. Pale, but not a vampire. 

“Good.”

“You know, I thought you’d be more…” He gestured with his crooked staff.

“Scared?” Coraline finished. She was only a little bit terrified. “You’re a friend of the fairy I caught, right?”

Jack nodded.

“She seemed okay, so I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt.” Coraline tried to be nonchalant about it, like it was nothing, but she didn’t turn her back on him when she grabbed her robe for warmth. She was almost sure he wouldn’t freeze her to death. Almost.

“The Tooth Fairy is a actually a woman, about your size actually. The little fairies are her helpers.” Jack hopped up and perched on his staff. Coraline couldn’t figure out how he managed to balance there.

“Really?” That explained a lot. “And they go all over the world?”

“Yup,” Jack grinned. “There’s thousands of them and they’re all ridiculously cute and tooth obsessed.”

“Why can’t they talk?” she sat on her bed. Coraline was impatient to know more. She’d never heard of a Beldam or any kind of spirit like that until she’d been entrapped by one. The more she knew the better.

“I still don’t have a straight answer for that. Tooth can speak hundreds of languages,” he said. “They’re pretty good at being understood though.”

That was true. The tiny fairy had said a lot to her with just body language and chirps to work with.

“How do they fly through things? And what about the coins? Aren’t they heavy for them?” Between Coraline’s curiosity and Jack’s willingness to show off what he knew, they very quickly went from tentatively trying to understand each other to two hours of supernatural question and answer. What did the Tooth Fairy do with all the teeth? (Magical filing boxes to protect memories.) Were there other kinds of fairies? (Maybe, he hadn’t met any.) What about monsters? (Some, but they mostly avoided humans these days.) Did Santa Claus exist? (Yes. His name was Nicholas St. North and he was both really nice and kind of crazy.) What about elves? (That question got her many, many hilarious stories about how useless the elves were.)

Jack answered as best he could, being fairly new in his job and still learning apparently. She appreciated how seriously he took the tale of her encounter with the Beldam. For once, Coraline had someone to talk to that couldn’t be weirded out by anything she said. 

“So how did you end up becoming a Guardian?” Jack had told her that he was the Guardian of Fun along with Santa, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and the Sandman.

“Oh. Well, that’s a long story,” he said and ran a hair through his hair, scattering tiny snowflakes around him. Jack had migrated onto the window seat while they’d been talking. His staff leaned against his shoulder.

“Come on Jack! Do you even need to sleep?”

“Not really,” he replied sheepishly and fiddled with the hooked stick. “Don’t you have to be up tomorrow?”

“It’s Sunday,” Coraline wondered why he wasn’t as eager to tell her this story as he had been all the others. “Was is really bad?”

“Not that bad. It worked out okay.”

“Yeah?” There was a long pause before Jack began and then it starting spilling out of him like Coraline’s story had out of her to that first little fairy. It was long and kind of horrible. The Boogeyman was real and completely evil. She felt extra guilty about trapping the little fairy now. But he wasn’t the only villain in the story from what she could tell.

“The Man in the Moon sounds like a jerk.” 

“He had his reasons,” Jack said uncertainly. Yeah, right. Leaving Jack alone for three hundred years? Jerk.

“The kids sound cool and I guess the others are all right too. They like you now don’t they? They aren’t going to get you in trouble for telling me all this stuff?” Coraline worried. Jack had gone through as bad a battle as she had, worse in some ways because he didn’t have anyone waiting for him. She hoped the other Guardians were there for him now.

“I don’t think so. Besides, the way Bunny talked about it, it’s better for you if you get used to the magical side of the world and don’t freak out. I’ll deal with it if they get upset. We’re actually good now. North is always trying to get me to stay at The Workshop and Baby Tooth visits me a lot.” 

“I’d like to meet her. The Easter Bunny sounds way cooler than the stories make him out to be too.” Not fluffy and useless at all. If he showed up at her house, she was going to ask him to teach her how to throw a boomerang. Bunny did sound grumpy, but Coraline thought Jack probably downplayed the causing-a-blizzard-on-Easter bit of the story.

“Yeah, he is.” And here Coraline’s eyes went wide, because pale as snow Jack blushed.

“You like him,” the words were startled out of her. The whole passing of notes and accusations of crushes had just started to multiply at school. Coraline was still adjusting to the idea.

“W-what? No…” Jack flushed an even brighter pink and bowed his head, pressing it against his staff.

“You do. It’s okay. I’m not going to judge you or anything,” she shuffled to sit on the end of her bed, closer to him. The kids at school could be really awful, teasing other kids and humiliating them. Coraline had accidentally-on-purpose tipped the soda of one of the nasty girls into her lap. She’d been labeled a weirdo right off and had quickly discovered that the others who shared that moniker were way more interesting people that the cool kids anyway.

“Maybe I like him. A little,” he conceded.

“Uh huh,” she said.

“It’s pretty hopeless though.”

“I thought he was the Guardian of Hope? How can it be hopeless?” 

“Ha ha,” Jack flicked icy droplets at her. “He’s older and he doesn’t like me.”

“Do you actually know that?”

“It’s not like I can ask him.” 

“Wait, you said you were taking turns checking on me, didn’t you?” She stood up and stared pacing. An idea was forming in her head.

“Yeah. I thought we’d be doing it together…”

“That’s why you volunteered isn’t it?” She pointed at him and Jack went even more pink. “When is he coming?”

“Next week.”

“Okay then,” Coraline stopped and put her hands on her hips. “Since you can’t ask him, I will.” How hard could it be? 

“What?” Jack looked up in panic.

“Not actually ask him,” she rolled her eyes as Jack. “I’ll find out. You know, subtly.” She just needed to get Bunny talking about Jack, after she explained why she could see him but before he gave her boomerang lessons.

“You’d do that?”

“Sure. We’re friends, right?” The only thing Coraline was afraid of now was that he’d say no.

“Friends? Absolutely.”

***** 

Jack anxiously returned to see Coraline the day after she was supposed to talk to Bunny. I’m an idiot, he thought. What had he been thinking, getting a twelve year old to find out if Bunny liked him? Was he really that desperate? 

Jack liked Coraline. He liked her a lot actually. If her home were closer, he’d have introduced her to Jamie. She was an amazing kid and she’d risked a lot to save the spirits of the other children from the Beldam before escaping herself. Jack was happy to have befriended her, not just to have another believer, but because she was fun to talk to and genuinely a good person.

He soared over the small bit of woodland by Coraline’s house, dropping low to circle the grounds as he approached. Since the Beldam had been in the house for over a century they needed to keep an eye on the area. It might attract other nasties according to North. Jack had nearly finished when sensed someone following him. Before he had time to react, he was caught from behind. For a heart stopping moment Jack thought it was the Beldam hunting him down, but a flash of grey fur relieved him. They hit the ground, tumbling until they stopped, facing each other as they lay side by side.

“Hey, Cottontail,” Jack greeted him breathlessly. 

“Jackie,” Bunny loosened his hold. “We need ta talk.”

“Oh.” That wasn’t good, was it? What had Coraline said to him? Jack panicked internally, hoping Bunny wouldn’t notice, and then panicked some more and tried to tamp down his hope so that Bunny wouldn’t sense it.

“Calm down, Snowflake,” he chuckled. The new nickname made Jack feel a little slushy inside. Bunny’s hand squeezed his shoulder. “Nothing’s wrong.”

“No?”

“Nah. Just want ta clear this up between us.” Bunny said, green eyes holding his gaze.

“Okay,” he managed.

“Coraline, who’s miraculously become very well educated on the subject of Guardians and the like I might add,” Bunny raised an eyebrow at him. “Coraline and I had a bit of a chin wag.”

“A chin wag?” He was getting better translating the Australian slang, but Bunny still managed to confuse him.

“A chat, Jackie. We talked. Mostly, about you.” Bunny’s hand slid down from Jack’s shoulder to tap a finger against his chest.

“Ah, about me?” 

“Twelve year old girls aren’t subtle, mate. Not even ones as sharp as Coraline Jones.”

“Oh.” Jack flushed with embarrassment. Great. Bunny knew that he liked him. Jack braced himself for a gentle let down.

“I was waiting for you ta say something yourself, ya know.”

“You were?” he said.

“You’re not one for subtlety either, Jack. Thought for sure you’d protest when I suggested alternating weeks.” The wry smile that turned Bunny’s lips was fond. Maybe there was hope for him after all. 

“You don’t think it’s weird?”

“Nah. I admit, I was a bit flummoxed when I realized, but that’s more because I haven’t gotten that kind of attention in a long time,” Bunny explained. 

“What? Why?” Who wouldn’t want Bunny? Jack did wonder how long was long. Bunny was really old if North’s teasing was even half true. Not that Jack cared about their ages. 

“Shouldn’t I be asking you? Why?” Jack felt the weight of the question, knowing he needed to get his answer right, or at least not completely wrong, if he wanted this to work out.

“I just like being with you. You’re interesting and smart. You don’t mind when I ask questions and make time to help me when I need it, but you don’t pat me on the head or pity me either. You like being quiet sometimes and you’re fine with me hanging out quietly with you too. Everything can still get really overwhelming, but being with you isn’t,” Jack paused. “Being with you makes me feel… right.” 

While he’d been talking Jack had lowered his eyes to stare at the thin strip of grass poking up between them. It was a little bent and muddy, with the faintest traces of frost that vanished where grass met grey fur. He could see when Bunny’s chest moved as he inhaled and Jack tensed for the response.

“All right then.”

“All right?” What did that mean? Jack looked up hesitantly.

“All right,” Bunny was smiling. “We’ll give it a burl.”

“I- yeah?” That expression he understood. “Really?” 

Bunny didn’t respond in words. He dipped his head down and nuzzled Jack’s cheek softly instead. A shiver of warmth ran along his skin.

“I’ve never done this before,” Jack whispered.

“I know, Snowflake. We’ll take it slow, yeah?”

“Yeah,” he rubbed his nose gently across Bunny’s. “That’d be good.”

***** 

After Coraline had watched Jack swoop down and vanish, she’d dashed around to the other windows until she could see where he’d landed. With Bunny. She’d watched in horror, thinking that she’d ruined everything, but when they finally got up, Bunny had his arm around Jack’s shoulders and Jack was grinning brightly.

“Yes!” she said to herself. 

Bunny’s ears twitched and he raised his hand to wave towards the house. Jack quickly followed suit. 

So much for avoiding the supernatural, she thought. Coraline didn’t mind though, because Jack was going to be a great friend. He’d be over every other week, maybe every week now with Bunny. The Easter Bunny was actually a nice guy and he’d been totally blunt about why they were watching over her. Coraline appreciated the honesty and the fact they didn’t sugarcoat things, even if Bunny wouldn’t teach her how to throw a boomerang until she was older. 

Coraline walked back to her room. She’d promised Bunny that she wouldn’t try and trap any fairies again and she’d meant it. It would just be mean and Jack had said he’d bring Baby Tooth to meet her. Maybe even Toothiana herself.

Of course, technically she’d only promised not to trap fairies. That didn’t mean she couldn’t try her hand at leprechaun hunting, did it? She got her answer that night after she’d fallen asleep and dreamt about holding onto a leprechaun until he gave her a pot of gold. Once she had it, the gold exploded into a big pile of golden sand that grew until it became a small round man who waggled a finger at her.

Coraline woke up the next morning with a smile on her face. The Sandman!

“Okay, okay,” she said out loud. No more magic. Coraline decided to work on getting Bunny to cave on boomeranging lessons instead. She’d helped him get together with Jack, right? He totally owed her one.


End file.
